William Booth of the Washington Post talks to Greg Daniels, executive producer, and B. J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, both writers and actors, of The Office.

To give “The Office” its docu-parody vibe, the show hired camera crews from reality series such as “Survivor,” and so the look is rough and jumpy, the action shot through potted plants, sometimes intimate and sometimes panning back and forth as characters engage.

“The camera guys from the reality show are going wherever they’re interested,” Daniels says. “So the cameraman isn’t 100 percent sure where he’s supposed to be, and you get things at just the right moment. You get these happy accidents, because they follow their instincts.”